Repeat Sex Offender Sentenced to 16 Years for Receiving Child Pornography

MADISON, WIS. - Timothy M. O'Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Joshua Sherwood, 34, of Arpin, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 195 months in federal prison for receiving child pornography. This term of imprisonment will be followed by 25 years of supervised release. Sherwood pleaded guilty to this charge on November 4, 2024.

Shortly after being released from state prison for possessing child pornography, Sherwood began reaching out to minor girls across the country, manipulating them into producing sexually explicit images for him by sending them money and items from their Amazon wish lists. When the girls refused to send him additional explicit images, he threatened to either send the images he had to the victims' parents or to kill himself.

In choosing a 16-year sentence, Judge Conley observed that Sherwood was willing to directly exploit his young victims, seemingly enjoying the manipulation. Judge Conley saw no awareness from the defendant of the damage that he regularly caused and noted that Sherwood's descent was so far, it will be difficult to change.

The charge against Sherwood was the result of an investigation conducted by the Smyrna, Tennessee Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the Marshfield Police Department, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, and the New Lisbon Correctional Institution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman prosecuted this case.

This investigation was a part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.